Bad Start To A Great Honor

Nelson Mandela turned 90 this month, so it's about time I got this off my chest.

Dear Madiba:

My bad.

Eight years ago, on a tour of Africa with 10 other opinion writers from around the world, I made a colossal gaffe that I was sure would cause an international incident.

It was a warm spring day in Johannesburg's Houghton neighborhood. The white-walled estate on the tree-lined street was home to the former South African president, known as "Madiba" to the natives. It's a tribal thing.

I was as nervous as a schoolgirl at a Jonas Brothers concert waiting with the other journalists to meet one of my heroes.

Mandela's affable security guys asked us one favor: Please don't use a flash when taking his picture. Mandela's eye were damaged from serving 27 years in prison in Robben Island, hammering at limestone in a blinding sun. His weakened eyes are a reminder of the sacrifices made for rabble-rousing in protest of the country's racist apartheid regime.

Anyways, I had this new camera ... I was certain that I clicked the OFF button for the flash. Until it went off, that is - right as Mandela began his opening comments.

I've carried that guilt for eight years. But I've never felt awkward about getting Mandela to sign a copy of his autobiography - "Long Walk to Freedom." Shudder if you want, journalism purists, but it's not everyday that you're in Africa and shaking hands with one of the great men of the 20th century.

We don't have much time left to cherish this gift that is Mandela. As America prepares to elect a new president, Mandela serves as the embodiment of what it takes to lead - courage, compassion, selflessness. He earned his moral authority because he spent the prime years of his life behind bars in his fight against injustice and racism. Yet when he was released and elected president, he didn't talk about retaliation, just forgiveness and reconciliation. It's worth underscoring - he is a remarkable man.

After apartheid, South Africa did what America hasn't done with its atrocity of slavery - come to grips with how it debilitated, psychologically especially, generations of black people and how its legacy still impacts life today.

When we visited Mandela in 2000, he said the only thing good about prison was that it gave him time to think, to reflect, to "see yourself ... and discover the mistakes that you've made in the past. ... The opportunity to think about problems is one of the best ways of addressing problems. And that is what we don't have outside. But in prison we had that opportunity."

Next year marks the 10th anniversary of a partnership between the University of Connecticut and the African National Congress, Mandela's political party. UConn is serving as the North American archivist for ANC records during the apartheid struggle. The records are stored at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, Mandela's alma mater. It's been quite a coup for State U. and history professor Amii Omara-Otunnu, who is the UConn-ANC executive director and holds UNESCO's chair in Comparative Human Rights.

Monday, Ahmed Kathrada, a former parliamentary counselor to Mandela and an ex-prison mate, will deliver the keynote address at the 2008 UNESCO leadership conference at Storrs.

"He's written that their imprisonment should really be [viewed as] a triumph of the human spirit," Omara-Otunnu said. "And it should not be used to carry out the dirty acts of settling scores."

Meeting Mandela in 2000 was special. Without a doubt, it is the highlight - and yeah, lowlight - of my career.

Stan Simpson's column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He can be heard live Saturday on WTIC NewsTalk 1080 from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.